Following up to the news on SKFU, some additional information has been discovered with what could be the very first public glimpse at a developer model PlayStation Vita.
If you just currently read Wololo’s article about SKFU and his progress on Vita hacking then you would know there wasn’t a lot of confirmation on things, until now. It appears that SKFU has successfully got his hands on a PlayStation Dev Kit, and that might be how he made progress on his hacking research.
After some extensive research it was discovered (thanks to reader Maccle!) that he does indeed have a dev kit. SKFU posted a thread over at Assembler Games trying to sell his dev kit for unknown reasons, however, giving out some surprising information.
“So, what might it be worth to collectors?
A bit background information about PS VITA DevKits:
The official SONY price for devkit models which are sent to third party developers is 1.900€.
There is no fix price for internal models known.
The prices you are going to submit are for an internal model based on newest hardware revision.
Surprise me
”
SKFU went as far as posting clear images of the top and back sides of this “new model”. Developers do get access to hardware better than the normal Vita with usually double the RAM, but it’s possible other upgrades and enhancements exist in those Vitas. In particular, the pictures give us some good insight of what a developer device looks like compared to the normal consumer Vita. The pictures show noticeable physical changes such as matte buttons, a USB port (2.0 for Faster transfer?) and a HDMI port. This dev Vita is dubbed the “Vita PDEL-1001″ which is supposedly ” the first one in the wild.” Definitely some exciting discoveries here.

Notice the addition of a “real” mini USB port and an HDMI port

Compared to the retail version under it
However, that’s not the only information that was revealed when one user asked about the every 90 day activation of the dev kit Vita license that has to be done to keep the developer special features working. SKFU responded with the following information on the subject…
“Partly correct. the activation is just required to run unsigned self’s.
all other functions are fully active like any pc tool to connect or mess with, debugging functions, file system access etc etc.
running unsigned selfs can be achieved other way. aswell there’s several vulnerabilities in devkits up to newest firmwares which
might lead to bypass the activation soon”
It seems that not only has SKFU gotten into the Vita’s OS with full access but he has also found exploits within the dev kit firmware. This is huge news as it could mean we are closing in on more developments towards a Vita exploit. SKFU has not made any other type of public announcement regarding such so that could mean he is holding on to it for a later date or still working.
It is still unclear at this point if he used a regular developer license (in association with the devkit) to get access to the information he posted last week in his blog (as implied by some of you in our comments section, some tools made available to developers by Sony could allow to read what’s on the Vita Stick without a need for any hack)
This is a huge discovery and definitely one that will be constantly developing, so stay tuned. One other question that needs to be answered is, why would SKFU need to sell this unit, if he’s making progress with it?
What do you think about this? Are you ready for a Vita hack? Let me know in the comments!
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I want one, I might start saving money and raise some money to get one, because I have the know how but not what I need to start developing and that would be a great lea
p forward. -
FOR THE RECORD:
SKFU led the way in PSP xmb hacking and was the first to release a POC that allowed the XMB icons to be changed. Eventually that ended up leading to ZiNgA BuRgA releasing rcoMage which led to animated PSP themes. And honestly, PSP themes are a large part of what kept the scene going so strong for so long. So ppl need to get their facts straight before making outrageous insults to this guy
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xmb modification and exploiting a console are 2 completely different things
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i realize they are two different things… My point is that you are doing either if you are not knowledgeable. SKFU is no script kiddie. And he certainly has made noteworthy contributions to the hacking scene.
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What are these note worthy contributions?
Changing XMB icons dont mean shit to me.
He’s never contributed anything, but is quick to tell people how close he is to hacking ps3 or psp, now vita, just an attention whore. Trust me, you’ll see.-
agreed agreed agreed
everyone who was there at the start of the ps3 hacks knows that
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I’ve seen it before, probably
because I have devVita at work =D
but that one is slimer then ours =`
maybe ps vita slim is coming.-
Where do you work @ power bi
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If he’s under contact he isn’t at liberty to say unless he want’s his ass handed to him. For the last ten years i worked for Nintendo but i can only say now that i did ( when it comes to being on hacking , homebrew sites i mean). I was recently offered a job at Sandlot and as soon as i sign that contract i will no longer be able to say that i do, especially if i continue to contribute to hb scenes.
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yea it does seems slimmer then the normal version but i thought i herd that the dev kits dident have the game port idk… i want one vita dev now starthing to get sdk working..would be fun. n wats with sony nasne waithing for a american realse so i can get uniktone for the vita…
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this is great I hope to see a full CFW on the vita on full access on psp and vita sections on the system.
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sonys gonna be pissed
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Hello guys, i have a revelation to tell you all. First, i am sorry to offend the donators who helped me get a dev. Kit. All of your efforts have not gone to waste as i have successfully hacked the psvita and run a cfw on it. As much as i want to release it in public, we are facing a huge problem, the 2.0 update that will be released on the 19th. It would not be ideal to release the cfw as of now for 2 reasons. #1 vita cfw isn’t stable as of now. Some games dosen’t run on the vita cfw and crashes randomly
#2 if i release the vita now, all work will go to waste as sony will definitely patch and fix this exploit. Please be patient guys, a cfw for vita will come sooner or later. -
Pingback from Duda con PSVita? on November 18, 2012 at 3:07 am
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Go download all the old AR games and keep them safe
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You lot are fucking scum. Can you not just be happy with the machine Sony provided? It’s a great device and doesn’t need fucking up by you bunch of cunts.
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If you don’t like homebrew than why are you on this site?? …idiot. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROGRESS SKFU!
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Would you scream that the people who take their cars to a mechanics garage for a bigger motor are fucking scum too?
As you have to right to modify your car, you should too, have the right to modify your consoles as long as its not used to steal software.-
and i wana add a hard drive n 3d camera n a subwofer to my vita…
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if you can find a way, good luck to you.
if that was sarcasm, you failed.
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What a dick
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I would like to see ps vita hack a working one… All i wanted to get cheats for vita games. Keep up the good work!!
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Holy sh!t !! so the dev kit is basically a future PS Vita Slim. Why the hell Sony didnt provided a HDMI port for retail too?
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cuz they was probly going have compasit cables like they did the psp go
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I have hacked the vita , send donations to release.
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xeueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee im going to buy a vita now if felix just hacked the vita =D
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I want it but not for hacking, I would use it for legit developing
, $1900 is a bit steep for a test device though. I wish Sony would make a Dev SDK that was more affordable but you could use your personal Vita with, (not the mobile suite crap) -
Actually, it’s not $1900, it’s closer to $2600 USD after conversion. I looked into buying it myself, but who has $2600 just lying around for a gaming device lol. We can only hope the unused port will be for video out, or that the next Vita will have a standard miniHDMI or something.
Anyways, keep it up SKFU! Take all the time you need to make a polished product! -
Did anyone try to braze a hdmi or usb solder terminal to the consumer vita? Do you think it will be recognized without a modified firmware?
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